Events in History
- Jan 8 Dr John A Veatch discovers borax, Tuscan Springs, California
- Jan 23 Steamer Pacific, leaves Liverpool on final voyage (lost at sea, 186 on board)
- Jan 25 Battle of Seattle; skirmish between settlers & Indians
- Jan 29 Victoria Cross established to acknowledge valour in the face of the enemy (United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries)
- Feb 1 Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College.
- Feb 7 Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the 1st piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot
Event of Interest
Feb 18 The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
Millard Fillmore
- Feb 19 Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio
- Feb 20 The steam packet-ship John Rutledge, en route from Liverpool to New York, hits an iceberg and sinks with the loss of 120 passengers and 19 crew; only one survivor (Thomas Nye of New Bedford)
- Feb 22 1st national meeting of Republican Party (Pittsburgh)
- Feb 29 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease
- Mar 5 Georgia becomes 1st state to regulate railroads
- Mar 9 Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded in the Johnston Mansion House on the University of Alabama
- Mar 25 A E Burnside patents Burnside carbine
- Mar 26 New South Wales's first 1st-class game, v Victoria at Melbourne NSW wins
- Apr 3 Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes badly damaged by gunpowder explosion, kills 4,000 on island of Rhodes
- Apr 10 The Theta Chi Fraternity is founded at Norwich University, Vermont
- Apr 11 Battle of Rivas; Costa Rica beats William Walker's invading Nicaraguans
- Apr 18 Russian Chancellor Count Nesselrode resigns
- May 7 Argentina & Brazil sign a navigation pact
- May 15 2nd San Francisco Vigilance Committee organized
- May 19 Senator Charles Sumner of Massachesetts speaks out against slavery
- May 21 Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and sacked by pro-slavery forces
- May 22 Violence in the US Senate, South Carolina rep Brooks uses a cane on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner
Event of Interest
May 24 Pottawatomie Massacre: John Brown and abolitionist settlers kill five pro-slavery settlers in Franklin County, Kansas
John Brown
- May 27 Doctor William Palmer (the Rugeley Poisoner) found guilty of poisoning in Stafford, England
- Jun 3 Cullen Whipple patents a machine for making screws
- Jun 8 Pitcairn Islanders arrive on Norfolk Island
- Jun 9 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts
- Jun 17 Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia
- Jul 15 Natal forms as a British colony separate from Cape Colony
- Jul 16 Statue of Laurens Jansz Coster unveiled in Haarlem
- Jul 17 The Great Train Wreck of 1856 between Camp Hill and Fort Washington, Pennsylvania kills over 60 people
- Jul 31 Christchurch, New Zealand, is chartered as a city.
- Aug 6 The Great Bell is cast for the Great Clock of Westminster, London (Big Ben)
- Aug 10 Hurricane washes away 2-300 revelers at Last Island, Louisiana
- Aug 20 Wilberforce University forms in Ohio
- Aug 21 America's first consul to Japan, Townsend Harris, arrives in Shimoda. (Traditional Japanese date: July 21, 1856)
- Sep 2 Tianjing's struggle Incident in Nanjing, China.
- Sep 14 Battle of San Jacinto at Hacienda San Jacinto, Nicaraguan forces defeat American filibusters
- Oct 7 Cyrus Chambers Jr patents folding machine that folds book & newspapers
- Oct 8 The Second Opium War or second Anglo-Chinese War: begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River
- Oct 19 James Kelly and Jack Smith fight bareknuckle for 6h15m in Melbourne
- Oct 20 Arnhem-Oberhausen railway in Netherlands opens
- Oct 24 Constitution of South Australia adopted
Event of Interest
Oct 28 French Magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin performs for Algerian Marabouts in Algeria to convince them that French magic is the stronger
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin
- Nov 3 A British fleet bombards Canton
Election of Interest
Nov 4 James Buchanan elected 15th US president
James Buchanan
Palace of Westminster
Nov 13 The Great Bell of Big Ben first chimes at the foot of the still unfinished clock tower outside the Palace of Westminster [1]
Learn More
Historic Invention
Nov 14 American Gail Borden is issued a patent for technology related to his invention of condensed milk
Gail Borden
- Nov 16 Amsterdam post office at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal opens
- Nov 17 On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
- Dec 9 The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.
Birthdays in History
- Jan 9 Anton Askerc, Slavic priest/poet (Primoz Trubar)
- Jan 9 Lizette Woodworth Reese, American poet (Branch of May, Tears)
- Jan 12 John Singer Sargent, American painter (Wyndham Sisters), born in Florence, Italy (d. 1925)
- Jan 14 J. F. Archibald, Australian journalist & publisher, born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1919)
- Feb 5 Otto Brahm, German critic/founder (Neue Deutsche Rundschau)
- Feb 14 Frank Harris, Irish-American journalist and writer (My Life & Loves), born in Galway, Ireland (d. 1931)
- Feb 15 Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist who developed a classification system for mental illness, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1926)
- Feb 16 Rudolph Karstadt, German entrepreneur (d. 1944)
- Feb 21 Hendrik P Berlage, architect (Stock exchange Amsterdam)
- Feb 25 Charles Lang Freer, art collector; endowed Freer Gallery [or 1876]
- Mar 1 Florimond Fonteyne, Flemish priest/politician (Volkseeuw)
- Mar 4 Toru Dutt, English and French poet and author (d. 1877)
- Mar 4 Alfred William Rich, English painter (d. 1921)
- Mar 7 Matilde Serao [Tuffolina], Italian writer (Land of Cockayne)
- Mar 8 Bramwell Booth, 2nd General of The Salvation Army, born in Halifax, England (d. 1929)
- Mar 8 Tom Roberts, British-Australian artist (Shearing the Rams), born in Dorchester, Dorset, England (d. 1931)
- Mar 16 Napoléon IV, Prince Imperial, Head of the House of Bonaparte (1873-79), born in Paris, French Empire (d. 1879)
- Mar 17 Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Mar 20 Frederick Winslow Taylor, American mechanical engineer and the father of scientific management, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1915)
Frederick Winslow Taylor
- Mar 20 Sir John Lavery, Irish artist (d. 1941)
Henry Ossian Flipper
Mar 21 Henry Ossian Flipper, American soldier, former slave and first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877, born in Thomasville, Georgia (d. 1940)
Henry Ossian Flipper
Booker T. Washington
Apr 5 Booker T. Washington, American education pioneer and 1st African American on a US stamp, born in Hale's Ford, Virginia (d. 1915)
Booker T. Washington
Philippe Pétain
Apr 24 Philippe Pétain, French marshal and Chief of the French State (1940-44), born in Cauchy-à-la-Tour, France (d. 1951)
Philippe Pétain
- Apr 26 Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (1906-12), born in Melbourne, Victoria Colony (d. 1930)
Robert Peary
May 6 Robert Peary, American arctic explorer who claimed to have 1st reached geographic North Pole (Apr 6 1909), born in Cresson, Pennsylvania (d. 1920)
Robert Peary
Sigmund Freud
May 6 Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and father of psychology, born in Freiberg, Austrian Empire (d. 1939)
Sigmund Freud
- May 13 Peter Henry Emerson, 1st to promote photography as an independent art
- May 15 Lyman Frank Baum, American children's book author (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), born in Chittenango, New York (d. 1919)
- May 20 Henri E Cross [Delacroix], French painter
- May 25 Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general during WWI, born in Mostaganem, French Algeria (d. 1942)
- Jun 14 Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (Markov Chain), born in Ryazan, Russian Empire (d. 1922)
- Jun 19 Elbert Hubbard, American editor, publisher and author (Message to Garcia), born in Bloomington, Illinois (d. 1915)
- Jun 22 Henry Rider Haggard, British author (King Solomon's Mines, She, Dawn), born in Bradenham, England (d. 1925)
- Jun 30 Gerrit Kalff, Dutch professor (history of Dutch writers), born in Zwolle, Netherlands (d. 1923)
- Jul 6 Edward Anseele, Belgian socialist politician, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1938)
- Jul 9 Daniel Guggenheim, American mining magnate and philanthropist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1930)
Nikola Tesla
Jul 10 Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist, electrical engineer and inventor, developed alternating current and the Tesla Coil, born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (now Croatia) (d. 1943)
Nikola Tesla
- Jul 21 Harry A P Eyres, British diplomat (Constantinople, Albania)
- Jul 21 Louise Blanchard Bethune, 1st American woman architect, born in Waterloo, New York (d. 1915)
- Jul 23 Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian early nationalist leader, born in Ratnagiri, British India (d. 1920)
- Jul 24 Charles Émile Picard, French mathematician, born in Paris (d. 1941)
George Bernard Shaw
Jul 26 George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist (Pygmalion, Nobel Prize for Literature 1925), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1950)
George Bernard Shaw
Edward L. Doheny
Aug 10 Edward L. Doheny, American oil tycoon, born in Fond du lac, Wisconsin
Edward L. Doheny
- Aug 10 William Willett, British inventor of Daylight Saving Time, born in Farnham, Surrey, England
- Aug 12 "Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier (d. 1917)
- Aug 15 J. Keir Hardie, Scottish politician and 1st Labour representative in British Parliament, born in Lanarkshire, Scotland (d. 1915)
- Aug 17 Violet Paget [Vernon Lee], British author (Satan the master)
- Aug 20 Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer, born in Panschwitz-Kuckau, Germany (d. 1909)
- Aug 27 Iwan Franko, Ukrainian writer and political activist, born in Nahuievychi, Galicia (d. 1916)
- Aug 30 Carle David Tolmé Runge, German mathematician and physicist, born in Bremen, Germany (d. 1927)
- Sep 1 Sergei Winogradsky, Russian scientist (d. 1953)
- Sep 2 Yang Hsiu-ch'ing, commander in chief of Taiping Rebellion
Louis Sullivan
Sep 3 Louis Sullivan, American architect (father of skyscrapers), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1926)
Louis Sullivan
- Sep 23 William Archer, Scotland, writer (Green Goddess)
- Sep 28 Edward Herbert Thompson, American diplomat and archaeologist (Mayan civilization), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 1935)
- Sep 28 Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1923)
Timothy Thomas Fortune
Oct 3 Timothy Thomas Fortune, American orator, civil rights leader, writer and publisher (New York Age), born in Marianna, Florida (d. 1928)
Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Oct 15 Robert Nivelle, French military officer, born in Tulle, France (d. 1924)
- Oct 25 Dragutin Gorjanovic-Kramberger, Croatian paleontologist (discovery and descriptions of the Neandertal remains from the Huŝnjakova rock shelter at Krapina in northwestern Croatia), born in Zagreb, Croatia (d. 1936)
- Nov 6 Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich, Grand Duke of Russia, born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1929)
- Nov 13 Louis Brandeis, American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1941)
- Nov 18 Nicholas Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia and general in World War I (1914-18), born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1929)
- Nov 22 Heber J. Grant, 7th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, born in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 1945)
- Nov 29 Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor of the German Empire (1909-17), born in Hohenfinow, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1921)
- Dec 11 Georgy Valentinovich Plekhanov, Russian revolutionary theorist, born in Gudalovka, Russia (d. 1918)
- Dec 13 Svetozar Boroević, Austro-Hungarian field marshal, born in Umetić, Croatian Military Frontier, Austrian Empire (d. 1920)
J. J. Thomson
Dec 18 J. J. Thomson, English physicist who discovered the electron (Nobel 1906), born in Manchester, England (d. 1940)
J. J. Thomson
Frank Kellogg
Dec 22 Frank Kellogg, US Secretary of State (1925-29), tried to outlaw war (Nobel 1929), born in Potsdam, New York (d. 1937)
Frank Kellogg
- Dec 25 Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
Woodrow Wilson
Dec 28 Woodrow Wilson, 28th US President (Democrat: 1913-21) and 1919 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, born in Staunton City, Virginia (d. 1924)
Woodrow Wilson
- Dec 29 Thomas J Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (Stieltjes integral), born in Zwolle, Netherlands (d. 1894)
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Jun 5 Industrialist Samuel Colt (41) weds philanthropist Elizabeth Hart Jarvis (29)
Samuel Colt
Deaths in History
- Jan 5 Pierre J David [David d'Angers], French sculptor, dies at 67
- Jan 11 Nikolai I Nadezjdin, Russian archaeologist, dies [NS=Jan 23]
- Jan 12 Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak politician and author of Slovak language, dies at 40
- Jan 16 Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
- Jan 24 Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir, Polish Hasidic leader (b. 1775)
- Jan 31 Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama of Tibet, dies at 17
- Feb 8 Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist, dies at 82
- Mar 11 James Beatty, Irish railway engineer (b. 1820)
- Apr 11 Juan Santamaría, national hero of Costa Rica (b. 1831)
- May 6 William Hamilton, metaphysicist, dies
- May 12 Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)
- Jun 11 Friedrich H von der Hagen, German germanist, dies at 76
- Jun 23 Ivan Kireyevsky, Russian literary critic and philosopher, dies at 50
- Jun 26 Max Stirner [Johann Kaspar Schmidt], German philosopher (Der Einzige), dies at 49
- Jul 4 Istvan Ferenczi, Hungarian sculptor, dies at 64
Amedeo Avogadro
Jul 9 Amedeo Avogadro, Italian scientist who contributed to molecular theory, including what is known as Avogadro's law (6.022 x 10 ^ 23), dies at 79
Amedeo Avogadro
- Jul 9 James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (b. 1813)
- Jul 15 Margaretha J de Neufville, author (The Kidnap), dies at 81
- Aug 14 William Buckland, dean (Westminster)/geologist, dies
- Aug 14 Constant Prévost, French geologist, dies at 69
- Aug 19 Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist, dies at 39
- Aug 29 Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer, dies at 77
- Aug 30 Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (b. 1811)
- Aug 30 John Ross, British naval officer and explorer, dies at 79
- Sep 24 Henry Hardinge, British army officer and politician, 1st viscount Hardinge of Lahore, Governor-General of India (1844-48), dies at 71
- Oct 19 William Sprague III, American politician (U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1842-44)), dies at 56
- Oct 23 Alexander Ross, Canadian fur trader, dies at 73
- Oct 29 Carel Sirardus Willem van Hogendorp, Dutch colonial director, dies at 68
- Nov 4 Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter, dies at 62
- Nov 20 Farkas/Wolfgang Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician, dies at 81
- Dec 20 Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary (b. 1820)